My first aircraft of the Allied airforce for 1/72nd Wings of War, these were put together by my good mate Chris who was up for the challenge of the Airfix RE8, and the Roden Se5 was a much kinder kit to build apparently. Both kits were painted with my trusty Aztek, then ink washed, then a combination of airbrush and brush highlighting and weathering, I don't know why but all allied transfers seem oversize so I have ordered some replacements for both of these aircraft, and I have some pilots (currently being sculpted, which I will put into production) on the way to fill the empty seats soon!

The trusty Aifix RE8, I ahve a second airfix kit that will be in Belgian colours

Monday, April 25, 2011

A great many discussions have been had at the club over the last few years of moving to 1/72nd scale WW1 air combat. Mark had a head start and has been building fleets of aircraft for the last ten years mostly to play canvas eagles. Two years ago a few of the chaps started to get excited by Wings Of War and played a few club games using the rules and the aircraft available, a number of great games were had with lots of "dakka dakka" and sound effects provided by a snoopy toy plane!

Last Novemeber we all played WOW in 1/72nd scale for the first time, Mark had designed all of the decks and most of us decided to get a few kits and build some early war and late war planes, last month three of us at the club played WOW early war (see Gregs Post here).

I have decided to concentrate on late war so this is my first Jasta of my planned three Jasta's, each jasta will have around five aircraft. These two still need some wire work, and to be gloss then flat matt clear finish done. I have selected two historical colour schemes so far from Jasta 2, the other two or three will be made up I think.

Albatross DIII flown by Ltn Hermann Frommherz 1917 , I am the most happy with this Kite, all hand painted including the stripes.

Albatross DIII flown by Werner Voss, again hand painted, the cross in oakleaves should be a swastika, I will fix this before the gloss coat.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Leucosyri hill tribesmen, the Leucosyri were termed White Syrians, and possibly settled in the Paphlagonia region by Alexander particularly around the Halys river, they were conquered by Pontus under Mithridates Ctistes (302–266 BC). I have decided to give these guys the sparra, and will use them as a allied warband for my Pontic army, the figures are crusader miniatures.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Part two:- Wily Tribesmen The second with the "Lonely Gamers" was a larger 1000 point game, this also heralded the arrival of two other lonely Gamers, Victor and Brian. Nathan than set up the table, and briefed us on the game scenario. I commanded the Mahdists with my able sub commander Victor, our goal was to stop the British Relief column, and capture and destroy the supply column, Greg's and Brians goal was to relieve the besieged garrison. As I had selected Wily tribesmen as my army selection we could have hidden troops in the shrubbery in our deployment zones. Each army also had to keep a reserve off the table, plus a flank march so this made things interesting. As I had seen in the previous game the speed that Madhists moved, I set up the two wings at each edge of the table, the British mirrored my deployment my left and stayed in column on the right. Our goal was to capture the supply column so we decided to attack and pin the British left flank and send the rest through the middle to capture and destroy the supply column. Mahdist Left

Table overveiw Turn One

The Mahdist’s won initiative and immediately headed off on the right flank, using push moves moving 18 inches in their first turn they also sprung two hidden units on the right flank, the British right stayed in column and seemed to be trying a flanking move on the left setting up their guns to cover the infantry

Turn Two

The British win the Initiative and continued movement, the Mahdist Infantry sets up for the assault on the British left flank, the British right advances down the flank, the guns manage to make some mahdists check thier movemnt, causing a rethink to the mahdist push in the centre and left, and the turing point of the game.... the Mahdist cavalry arrive in the rear of the british guns! Turn Three

The Mahdist need and win the initiative charging the guns and the supply convoy some light infantry try to defend it and are beaten so they fall back the Mahdist cavalry start looting the supply coloumn, the British reform to meet and then repulse the Mahdist assault on the right, on the left however one British column is caught in the flank and retreats off the table! Turn Four

The British win initiative (lucky rolling) and the British cavalry arrive to win the day (so they think) the Mahdists have now started the second turn of looting the supply wagons, the Mahdist left falters and starts retreating, the right also fails to charge home, failing push charge rolls.

Turn Five

The Mahdists win initiative and try a all out assault on all fronts, the left and right falter after some cunning moves and excellent firing by the British regulars, the British cavalry cuts down the first Mahdists then over runs onto the flank of a second unit (damn thier eyes), the Egyptian Infantry charge the Mahdist cavalry looting the supply train but fall back in disorder and are all cut down by the other mahdist cavalry unit, the Egpytian infantry also fall back in the centre and Mahdist infantry are now in the rear of the British Regular troops.

The view from the Fort, the cavalry may actually save the day!

The Thin Red line indeed

In the flank!

Turn Six

The British win initiative and charge the cavalry into the rear of the mahdist infantry cutting them all down they fail to overrun to the baggage, allowing the Mahdist cavalry to complete the plundering and win the day for the Mahdists!!!!!

The British cavalry and a Regular unit arrive to late to save the baggage column

What a great victory for the Mahdists, looking forward to gaming some more Colonial games with the Lonely Gamers in the future!

I found Andrews rules very fast play, the ability for units to move very fast as long as they are in command actually makes commanders useful in a game, Initiative is all important failure to win can be devestating as both of us found out, the Mahdists probaly done the best they could with what they had, Gregs rolls saved the day for his British regulars on his left, as they were outnumbered by three to one. I failed to capitalize on my left when the british infantry were in coloumn a all out assault on them by four units would of convincingly won the day instead of a minor victory for the Mahdists.

Well Greg and I have always talked about a Boys weekend away gaming, drinking and yarning, and the opportunity came up last weekend, Greg needed to put some Klms on his car so we travelled up to visit Nathan and the boys from lonely gamers (a short 4 hour drive away). Nathan had kindly offered a weekend of colonial gaming something Greg and I have never played! The Friday night we arrived and after dinner sat around chatting and drinking some of Greg’s potent home brew, the next morning we set up for the first entre a quick 500 point game using Andrew Parr’s “Fortune and Glory” rules. I commanded the British and Greg commanded the Mahdists, within two hours we had a result with the British and allied Egyptians cleaning up after some amazing dice rolls on my behalf, I had captured three of the five victory locations and destroyed four of the six Mahdist units, the Egyptian troops performed like demons withdrawing then charging in to finish off two Mahdist units in the dying stages of the battle. see Part two for Game two cheers matt

Our Club Meeting for Ancients this year was another success with ten gamers attending with armies the theme was the rise of Rome so any army from 150BC to 150AD, Nathan from Elite Miniatures attended with his stall and Ian from War and Peace also, much spare cash was spent on the two traders, some of the other members attended to view the games.

As I had predicted the Roman Armies were in the majority for the WAB 2 tournament. The armies on the table included; Three Imperial Roman, One republican Roman, one Thracian, one Carthaginian, one Celt, one Successor, one Pontic and one Spartacus revolt army. I tried to match period gamers with historic counterparts so the gaming would be balanced. In the first round each general selected a 300 point light infantry army for his vanguard. Dave Imp Romans lost to Greg Celts, Nathan Successors lost to Micks Imp Romans, Matts Pontic’s lost to Chris Spartacus revolt, Craig Imp Romans lost to Guys Thracians, Bern’s Carthaginians lost to Louis Republican Romans.

The second game was an 1800 point game with the loser of the vanguard game to setup first, results were Dave Imp Romans lost to Greg Celts, Nathan Successors lost to Micks Imp Romans, Matts Pontic’s lost to Chris Spartacus revolt, Guys Thracians lost to Craig Imp Romans, Bern’s Carthaginians lost to Louis Republican Romans.A great day out was had by all, I was not happy with my dice rolling on the day and won only one combat for the day and rolled like a dog for all of my morale rolls resulting in a trouncing of my Pontics.........oh well I will just get some more mercenaries!!!!!

I have decided to run a campaign this year so keep a look out for updates

About Me

I have a fascination with History so I read a lot, preferring it to TV, my interest in reading lead me to wargaming and re-enactment during my life.
My main periods of interest are Greek 5th cent, Roman republican, Imperial and late,Sassanid empire, Dark age Norman, early medieval England, late 17th and 18th centuries France and Napoleonic German states, also a little ww2.